Sugar-coated baseball

Candus Thomson

Cal Ripken was on the wrapper of a chocolate-caramel-crisped rice snack in 1993. Nearly a decade later Mike Mussina lent his name to a chocolate and peanut butter log called, “Moose Bar.” Both regional confections were used to raise money for non-profit groups.

But there hasn’t been a true national marriage of a baseball star and a candy bar since 1977, when Reginald Martinez Jackson said “I do,” to the “Reggie” bar.

So to correct this massive oversight, here’s five candy bars and their perfect pitchmen:

1) “Almond Joy,” a bar for fans of Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez. Sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you just root for one.

Sugar-coated baseball

2) “Snickers, Hall of Fame Edition,” because who has given us more chuckles during the offseason than Yankee Alex Rodriguez?

5) New and improved “Chunky,” for folks who just can’t get enough of CC Sabathia.

Sugar-coated baseball

Speaking of chunky, the most humongous baseball player in major league history, according to Baseball Almanac, was Walter Young, a 2005 Oriole who tipped the scales at 315 pounds. The previous record holder was 295-pound pitcher Walter “Jumbo” Brown, who ended his career in 1941 with, appropriately, the Giants.